Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Sudan concerning the recent raid by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services on civil society actors at the Tracks offices in Khartoum.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
An official based at our Embassy in Khartoum raised this specific case directly with the Director for Human Rights at the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week. More broadly, we continue to highlight our concerns about the freedom of civil society organisations as part of our ongoing human rights dialogue with the Government of Sudan.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Verma on 29 February (HL Deb, cols 573–5), whether the UK Mission to the UN, following receipt of a UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, has called for the immediate imposition of an arms embargo; and if so, why such an embargo should not also be applied to Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK has made clear our strong support for a UN arms embargo in South Sudan. We welcome that the UN Security Council will return to this issue by 15 April and we will continue to make the case to other Council members in the interim. We fully support the existing UN arms embargo for Darfur and the EU arms embargo that applies to Sudan as a whole. We remain deeply concerned by the impact of the devastating conflicts in Sudan and will continue to press all sides to engage in the African Union-led peace talks.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of political instability, human rights violations, poor governance and rule of law, and economic collapse, on migration flows from Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are concerned by migration flows from across the region, including Sudan. There are a range of political, economic and security factors that impact migration flows and we are undertaking further research on the drivers of migration from Sudan. We continue to raise our concerns about the human rights situation in Sudan and urge the government and opposition groups to work together to secure a political settlement that addresses Sudan’s internal conflicts.Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the change in the size of the audience for BBC World Service programmes broadcast via the internet in African countries or regions from 1999 to 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that:
The current weekly audience for the BBC on the Internet in sub Saharan Africa has grown from 520,000 in 2006 to 4.3 million (726 per cent increase).
The current weekly audience for the BBC on the Internet in the Middle East and North Africa grew from 530,000 in 2006 to 2.2 million (315 per cent increase).
The World Service use Global Audience Measurement (GAM) data to track performance by platform and by market. This data provides clear records from 2005 onwards.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the changes in audience sizes in African countries or regions following the switch from short wave to FM transmission of BBC World Service programmes between 1999 and 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that they make the following assessment of the changes in audience sizes in African countries or regions:
Sub -Saharan Africa -
Total audience across all platforms has risen from 52.7 million in 2005 to 81.8 million in 2015 (55 per cent increase).
In 2005, Short Wave and Medium Wave delivered 63 per cent of total audiences; by 2015 Short Wave and Medium Wave delivered 39.3 per cent of total audiences.
Short Wave and Medium Wave audiences in the region have dropped 3.9 per cent, while BBC’s direct FM audiences have grown by 125 per cent.
Middle East and North Africa -
Total audience across all platforms has risen from 15.3 million in 2005 to 48.2 million in 2015 (215 per cent increase).
In 2005, Short Wave and Medium Wave delivered 78 per cent of total audiences; by 2015 Short Wave and Medium Wave delivered 8.5 per cent of total audiences.
In this period, Short Wave and Medium Wave audiences in the region have dropped by 62 per cent, while the BBC’s direct FM audiences have dropped by 59 per cent.
BBC Arabic TV reaches 30.3 million people across Middle East & North Africa.
The World Service use Global Audience Measurement (GAM) data to track performance by platform and by market. This data provides clear records from 2005 onwards.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries the receipt of BBC World Service programmes via the internet has been blocked in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that blocks via the internet occurred in the following years:
1999 to present – China (BBC Chinese)
1999 to 2008 – China (BBC News – English)
2010 – China (BBC News – English was again blocked in December 2010 for a number of days and then lifted)
2014 – China (BBC News – English was again blocked in October 2014 for two weeks)
2002 – Vietnam
2004 – Uzbekistan
2006 to present – Iran
2013 to present - Sri Lanka
2014 – Rwanda
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries local FM radio stations broadcasting BBC World Service programmes in-country have been closed down by the authorities in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that they experienced closures to their service in the following countries: 2006 – Tajikistan 2008 – Oman 2009 –Azerbaijan 2010 – Somalia 2010 – Sudan 2008 to 2011– Israel 2014 – Rwanda
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries the short wave radio transmission of BBC World Service programmes has been jammed in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that short wave radio transmission has been jammed in the following countries: 2004 to present - Uzbekistan 2010 – China (Mandarin) 2012 to 2013 – Iran 2013 to present –China, which has also affected parts of India, Bhutan and Bangladesh
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which African countries or regions the BBC World Service has switched from short wave transmission of their radio programmes from London via intermediate transmitters to in-country onward transmission from local FM stations, in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that they maintained short wave broadcasts to Africa in all languages broadcast since 1999 except: •2010 – Swahili in Kenya •2011 – Portuguese in Southern Africa, primarily Mozambique.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 13 July (HL957), what assessment they have made of what would be an acceptable programme of concrete action by the government of Eritrea to strengthen the rule of law and to improve the human rights situation in that country.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Eritrea has made some limited progress against its international commitments on human rights in 2015. This included the publication in May of new Civil, Penal, Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure Codes. The Government of Eritrea also hosted a visit by representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider potential project work in the field of human rights in Eritrea. Government officials regularly meet with the Eritrean ministers and officials in London and Asmara to press the Government of Eritrea to address shortcomings on civil and political rights. Following the Universal Period Review (UPR) in 2014 Eritrea accepted 92 of the recommendations and has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. We continue to push for implementation of the remaining UPR recommendations.